Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil released after months in detention

Pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was released from detention Friday evening, ending more than three months of custody in a test of the executive branch's power to unilaterally act against legal U.S. residents

Pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was released from detention Friday evening, ending more than three months of custody in a test of the executive branch's power to unilaterally act against legal U.S. residents.

Khalil, whose plight has been center stage in President Donald Trump's crackdown on vocal opponents of Israel's incursion into Gaza, had been in immigration agents’ custody since March.

He was released from a detention center in Louisiana just after 6:30 p.m. Friday, hours after a federal judge ordered that he be freed.

"Although justice prevailed," he said upon his release, "it’s long, very long overdue. And this shouldn’t have taken three months."

He said he was traveling back to New York and couldn't wait to reunite with his wife and infant son, who was born while he was in custody.